@ARTICLE{Zare, author = {Zare, Mohammad Ali and Akbary, Mohammad and Barbarestani, Mohmmad and Ghafarian Shirazi, Hamidreza and }, title = {Extra-muscular branching and distribution of obturator nerve}, volume = {6}, number = {1}, abstract ={Determination of the obturator nerve distribution pattern is essential in reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation. To reveal pathway and branching of the nerve, 64 fixed cadavers in Bushehr and Tehran University of Medical Sciences were evaluated. In all cases, the obturator nerve arised from the anterior branches of the 2nd-4th lumbar nerves and passed through the medial side of psoas muscle to pelvis and in obturator grove divided to anterior and posterior branches the anterior division passed over the external obturator muscle.The skin of the medial side of thigh in 3.12% of cases was innervated by a direct branch of anterior branch.The posterior division of obturator nerve passed over the external obturator muscle in 3.12% and passed through it in 96.88% of cases. The articular branch for knee joint passed through the distal part of adductor magnus muscle in 82.8% and through the Hunter channel along with femoral artery in 17.2% of cases. Therefore, the distribution pattern of obturator nerve is accordant with the other researches except for adductor brevis muscle which was innervated only by the anterior branch of obturator nerve. }, URL = {http://ismj.bpums.ac.ir/article-1-103-en.html}, eprint = {http://ismj.bpums.ac.ir/article-1-103-en.pdf}, journal = {Iranian South Medical Journal}, doi = {}, year = {2003} }